Bloomsbury (2020)Buy (...)
Developed in critical harmony with Arendt’s thinking and writing, the concept of designing in dark times put forward in this admirable project makes a welcome practical addition to the literature on Arendt and on thinking our times.
A provocative and timely intervention into the politics of design, this is the first book to bring Hannah Arendt’s ideas directly into critical conversation with the urgent questions of acting politically and designing today
Building on the revival of interest in Hannah Arendt, and on the increasing turn in design towards the expanded field of the social, this unique book uses insights and quotations drawn from Arendt’s major writings (The Human Condition; The Origins of Totalitarianism, Men in Dark Times) to assemble a new kind of lexicon for politics, designing and acting today.
Taking 56 terms—from Action to Violence—and inviting designers and scholars of design world-wide to contribute, Designing in Dark Times: An Arendtian Lexicon, offers up a range of short essays that use moments and quotations from Arendt’s thought as the starting points for reflection on how these terms can be con- ceived for contemporary design and political praxis.
With additional contributions by Arendt herself, Richard J. Bernstein, Kenneth Frampton and Martha Rosler, the lexicon brings together designing and political philosophy to begin to create a new language for acting and designing against dark times.
In 2022, the book has been awarded a Compasso D’Oro by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI). Awarded only every two years the book won in the section for theoretical, historical, critical research and editorial projects in design.
Eduardo Staszowski is a researcher, and educator whose research examines how design can navigate and provoke transformation in response to social, political, economic, and environmental challenges. He teaches at Parsons School of Design, The New School, where he directs the Parsons DESIS Lab and co-directs the MFA in Transdisciplinary Design. Staszowski co-edits the book series Designing in Dark Times, Radical Thinkers in Design, and Beyond the Modern.
Virginia Tassinari is a design theorist and educator whose work investigates the intersections of design philosophy, political ecology, and social innovation. She focuses on how design can foster relational, and commons-based practices that move beyond modern epistemologies. Tassinari teaches at TU Delft and a co-editor of the book series Designing in Dark Times and Beyond the Modern.
